the real question is why are fans allowed to vote for all stars at all. it's so dumb

It is ridiculous, but the all-star game is pretty much worthless overall, so I don't really care. I remember reading a few statistical studies in college that showed that fan participation in the voting process actually had a very positive effect on viewership of the actual all-star game. So, for that reason alone it is worth it for MLB to allow fans to vote.